


In Time

by Gallicenae



Series: Misc Fic Gifts [12]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Solas in spirit wolf form, The Fade, fade walker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 08:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12837099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallicenae/pseuds/Gallicenae
Summary: Alrea Lavellan ventures into the Fade and has an unnerving encounter with an unfamiliar spirit.





	In Time

**Author's Note:**

> Fic commission for matrioshkka on tumblr

Alrea dug her stave into the frosted earth as she made her way up the slope of the mountainside. It had been hours, but she was still livid from the morning’s lesson with her Keeper. Clan Lavellan’s First had done everything right - again. And Alrea? She knew enough to do enough, and that was what frustrated her the most. For all the untapped potential the Keeper claimed she had, it was just as easily brushed aside with the comment, “Give it time. You’ll understand when you’re older.” It was something Alrea had heard all too often, and now the anger of it kept her warm.

The Avvar had a number of lodges scattered throughout this area of the Frostbacks. All but the hunters’ cabins were abandoned in the winter, allowing Alrea to find shelter in an old augur’s hut. It was her refuge in the wilds, away from creature and clan, a place to hone her abilities in solitude. The spirits came and went as they pleased here, the Veil thin from years of Avvar augurs seeking council from the Fade. 

She had tended to the place since she’d found it a few years prior, mending the door, replacing the rotted wood in the walls, bringing new earth to the fire pit. The lodge had become more of a home than she could have thought when she first stumbled upon it. Alrea had returned one spring to find an augur of one of the nearby tribes examining her handiwork. They’d exchanged cautious greetings at first, but soon warmed to each other over discussions of belief and use of magic. By the time Alrea was ready to leave, the augur had offered her free use of his humble hut whenever she pleased. Though she rarely ventured there in the warmer months, she came often during the winter. It had become a welcome respite from living under the shadow of the clan’s First.

Alrea lit the central hearth with a wave of her hand; it wasn’t an augur’s veilfire, but it would do well enough. Warmth spread through the small space, pulling the chill from her fingers. The hike had been more draining than she’d realized, and she blamed her exhaustion on the reckless pace she’d kept to put distance between her and the clan. She spread a pile of furs next to the fire and made herself comfortable. Alrea felt the Veil shiver around her as she stared into the flames, and though she did not seek their council, spirits whispered round her head. Their murmurs were soothing, and soon enough, they guided her to sleep.

They showed her many things in the Fade, pushing and pulling her gently across their realm and through their histories. Alrea saw the holdings of the first Avvar clans, the might of their warriors against the elements of the Frostbacks. She saw stone walls piercing the sky as they were cradled by distant hills, forests as vast as all the land she’d ever seen, and the finery of ancient peoples in their glass halls. She followed wherever the spirits took her; though the longer she was with them, the quieter they became. The visions of distant places and times would blur when she sought to get a better look, as if her direct attention was the very thing causing them to slip from existence once more. She grew restless with the shifting dreams, not being able to grasp what it was the spirits wanted to show her. 

The movement ceased when the placed her in a towering marble hall with glistening floors of mosaics. The spirits circled her slowly before floating off in different directions, now disinterested in their role as guides to this realm. Alrea walked the halls, gazing up at pillars that reached the heavens and shifted like smoke. Songs of memory drifted to her in pieces while images of long-dead elves brushed by before becoming shadows. She followed some for a time, walking through gardens and libraries, grand rooms and balconies. But Alrea began to feel out of place the longer she followed a group, as if she were becoming more of a spirit and they more like people. It unnerved her, but what was worse, she could _feel_ them. She understood beyond a doubt they were there, that they were real. 

Something tugged on the edge of her consciousness, forcing her to turn away from the inhabitants of this realm. Alrea squinted through the mist and shadows she’d come through, trying to recognize her path through the Fade. She knew better than to expect there to be one, but her instinct hoped _something_ would be there, and there was.

The shadow stood out from the rest with its thicker form and red eyes. It watched her, and Alrea could have sworn it beckoned her to follow. She knew the stories, knew how gods and creatures were tricked and stolen away. There was no reason for her to follow; she could wake herself and be back in the augur’s cabin whenever she liked. But she was curious about this spirit, or demon, taking the form of an animal where it had no relevance. A wolf in an ancient elven city was just as out of place as she had been, and Alrea wanted to know why. She stepped toward the creature, and that was all it took to rush her the thousands of leagues back to where she’d started - overlooking the Frostbacks. The augur’s spirits were there waiting for her return, as if the manner of their reunion had been expected. She tried to speak, to ask them the singular question occupying her thoughts, but they woke her before her lips could form the words. As Alrea’s eyes began to open and clear the fog of her dreams, she heard a whisper in response: _In time._


End file.
